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Nation's tradition of bank secrecy imperiled by UBS investigation
New York Times Oct 1, 08 10:50 AM CDT
(Newser) -
Swiss authorities are cooperating with an American investigation into a tax fraud scandal, dealing a major blow to the nation's tradition of banking secrecy. Swiss bank UBS is alleged to have helped up to 20,000 American clients evade taxes by stashing their fortunes—collectively worth $20 billion—in undeclared accounts. Now, after initial resistance, Switzerland has agreed to hand over confidential data to the Justice Department, reports the New York Times .
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Trader 'error' prompts bank to take $2.85B writedown; shares plummet
Bloomberg Feb 19, 08 6:58 AM CST
(Newser) -
Credit Suisse share prices plummeted 10% today after the bank announced that some traders had overvalued asset-backed securities, prompting the bank to take a $2.85 billion writedown and drop first-quarter profit projections by $1 billion, Bloomberg reports. Switzerland’s second-largest bank suspended the traders and said it would review 2007 earnings. Markets, already skeptical about the health of the financial industry, reacted negatively.
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Kerviel says he was up $2B at the end of 2007
Der Spiegel Jan 31, 08 11:00 AM CST
(Newser) -
Jérôme Kerviel, the trader at the root of the $7.1 billion scandal roiling French banking giant Société Générale, says his bosses knew what he was up to, and they didn't stop him as long as he was generating huge profits—$2 billion by the end of 2007, he claims. "As long as my results were positive, my superiors closed their eyes to the methods and the sums involved," he tells authorities in an interrogation transcript excerpted by Der Spiegel . “It’s impossible to generate such profits by taking small positions.”
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